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In Conversation WITH CONFIDENCE

Despite the weather it gets better – the Aussie quartet reflects on their journey as a band.

It is a Friday night when I find myself in the crowded rock-infused Camden once again. I can’t help it, I really like it around here. On this occasion, the iconic Underworld is my destination and as I wait for the green light across the road I notice a long queue turning around the corner down the street, and down another street. Let’s add, the band will not be even on in the next four hours or so.

Having squeezed through the thrilled crowd, after ignoring the sight of angry people for cutting the line, I finally end up inside of the venue where I’m being joined by 2/4 of the Australian pop-punk rockers With Confidence. And the fact of what’s been happening outside hasn’t escaped the band’s attention.

Actually, I saw a girl on the train at 10 this morning – Joshua Brozzesi (drums) reveals. I said “Hi! Where are you going?” and she said “To your show”. “But I won’t be there till 2 o’clock so that’s crazy..”

The truth is, there will always be a few of those devoted individuals that love bands a tad too much. Naturally, I’ve done some crazy things in the past and as it turns out, heading down to the gig that early is not something unfamiliar for the guys either.

However, tonight they are the ones to appear on stage as it is the opening night of With Con‘s headline tour across the UK. Surely there are great expectations about the gig #1, but the guys are no strangers to the city. What’s more, they have even played at the exact same venue before.

Any free time to explore London a little bit more? Any favourite spots?

We landed three days ago – Josh says. We’ve been around London a bit, hit up a few bars, enjoyed a few pints. We like this bar. We came here the last time for As It Is show and they had a club night afterwards…

Other than that, the tour is kind of back-to-back, there are shows nearly every day so hopefully we’ll have time to see some nice places around Europe ’cause we’ve never been before as a band – adds Luke Rockets (guitar).

And before I even get to finish my question about Europe they both quickly express their interest in Amsterdam.

Yeah but I’m excited to see Germany, France too. My dad is from Rome so I’ve got a whole bunch of my Italian family coming – Josh unveils.

It sounds pretty exciting, but what about the reception from the audience? Any vast differences between the crowds?

I was gonna say in Western culture it’s pretty similar – drummer starts. I’d say Australia definitely picks up a lot of what’s happening in the US and just kinda emulates that. That’s how we always describe it: colonised by the British and then westernised by America.

All of the shows are similar between those three places but we’ve had a privilege of playing places like Japan and Philippines where it’s wildly different for completely different reasons – Luke says.

With Confidence released their debut album, Better Weather, in June last year. Ten catchy and personal stories / tracks that make a fervent compilation. The infectious pop-punk tunes posses a sharp arena-worthy tone that successfully helps them stand out from the majority of similar-sounding bands within the genre. And their live shows are best example to prove it.

It’s been a few months since the album was revealed to the world. Looking back at the whole process, was there anything you would change? Perhaps, any songs that you had to let go but you would want them back?

I think in terms if there was anything we’d like to change – No, because the result that has come from that album has been incredible – Luke states. The opportunity to come to London on this headline tour and sell out this venue wouldn’t have happened if the album wasn’t the way it was. In terms of songs, there were about three songs that didn’t make the album that we still love and we want to work on them.

Yes, we’ve still got those songs and we’re gonna try to maybe put them out – adds Josh. We’re really proud of them and I think people would be interested to hear songs that didn’t quite make it on to the album.

“Maybe a deluxe version?”, I ask. “Yeah something like that would be really cool”, the guys agree.

Let’s delve into the process a little bit more. What was the biggest challenge when working on the album?

Oh man, I think writing at the start was a big challenge – Josh clarifies. It took us probably two or three months to come up with one song that we all really liked. That’s why we called it ‘Keeper’. We were like “Oh finally we have a keeper” [I bet a few people were wondering about that title].

Also, the way that we write sometimes is that we get in to my parents’ house and we just write in the shed for like eight or ten hours, just jam and have fun – he continues. It was the first time it really worked. There was also a lot of pressure, we knew we had to write an album, and we had the label happening. Then we finally came up with that song and it took off. Overall it was really enjoyable process. I’d say the hardest part was probably mixing ’cause we had nine weeks in the studio and I think by that point we would’ve listened to songs for months. That was the last step. We put in the effort and we got it right.

There’s nothing else in the world we’d rather be doing than being on tour and being in this band

It’s been three years since these four lads formed the band with the line-up they present today. Some of them have been mates since high school, some joined in later on. Either way, it clicked and now they are touring the world together. It appears their relationships stand strong, except a few minor fights…

It’s natural when you’re spending so much time with people – guitarist explains. Obviously, you need a little break sometime but we love each other like brothers. I think that’s the way I’d put it.

It’s like bickering – Josh continues. It’s always about small things but the next day you’re totally over it. I don’t think we’ve ever had a big fight.

We know that there’s nothing else in the world we’d rather be doing than being on tour and being in this band – says Luke. Any negative does not outweigh the positive.

Suck it up – Josh sums up. How many people would love to be travelling and playing music on the road. Now we’re doing that internationally and that’s so exciting.

At this point we get a little bit distracted as people keep crawling in to the venue, and frankly we’re not very inconspicuous standing next to the entrance. What’s more, I begin to feel like we’re being watched as I notice a group of a-little-bit-too-excited fans creeping up on us. That gives me an idea for the next question.

Do you have any secret about the band that no one knows?

There’s probably a thousand but I’m trying to think of something nobody would know that the world deserves to know – says Luke. Gosh, I have a lot of things that I don’t think are appropriate for public knowledge. We like to have a good time and sometimes that gets us into a little trouble…

Why don’t you tell two things: one can be a lie and one can be a truth – Josh suggests.

“And let the fans decide”, as I suggest.

Okay… Oh My God! I have something perfect – Luke expresses. One of these is a lie and one of these is a truth. Either A – Josh, standing right next to me, was playing a game of beer pong and defecated in a cup. B – Jayden, our singer, defecated in his pants before a show. So who knows? That was the first thing that came to my mind.

Alright, that’ll do. Any last statements?

We love the experience we’ve had in the UK on past round, we’ve never been to Europe so we’re pretty excited for that – Luke concludes. We just wanna have a great time, we want to encourage everybody to come out and have the most fun they can. Our mission statement about the album is “Despite the weather it gets better” so we want people to realise that if you’re going through a shitty time turn to music, turn to friends, let it all out at a show and have a good time.

On that bright note we round off, just in time as the guys are being devoured by their fans.